Lawmakers Blast Nasa's Spending Plan As `Timid'

U.S. & LATINE AMERICA

WASHINGTON -- Members of the House committee that controls NASA's budget criticized agency chief Sean O'Keefe on Wednesday, saying his first spending plan isn't ambitious enough.

U.S. Rep. James Walsh, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee considering the space program's proposed $15 billion budget, said increasing the agency's funding by less than 1 percent will not help build a strong space program.

"While NASA has been able to do more with less for the last several years, there comes a time where fat is no longer able to come out of a program," said Walsh, R-N.Y. "I fear NASA is approaching that point, if it has not been passed already."

House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, whose Texas district is close to Houston's Johnson Space Center, was even tougher.

DeLay, a Republican, said he had been cautiously optimistic when O'Keefe was appointed late last year, hoping that the former deputy director of the White House budget office would bring stability to the agency.

But at Wednesday's hearing, DeLay called O'Keefe's plan for human space flight "timid and anemic."

"I am deeply concerned about the direction I see you are taking the agency," DeLay said. "To be frank, my concerns haven't been alleviated. If anything, you've only confirmed my reservations. . . . Rather than pushing the envelope in space exploration, you seem to be pulling back."

Most of the concerns revolved around NASA's embattled international space station project, which is in the middle of a financial review that may result in a permanent downscaling of the floating laboratory.

The Bush administration axed several key components for the station -- including an emergency crew-return vehicle and the module that was slated to be the astronauts' main living quarters -- early last year to combat an estimated $4.8 billion in cost overruns in the next five years.

Without those elements, the station would only be able to host three astronauts, instead of the six or seven originally planned. NASA is waiting for the results of two new budget estimates for the full-size station, as well as a review of proposed scientific experiments, before deciding whether to move ahead.

Lawmakers also questioned whether NASA's proposed budget contains enough money to pay for safety upgrades for the agency's space-shuttle fleet and inquired about the fate of the effort to build a successor to the shuttle.

O'Keefe said $15 billion is sufficient to do what needs to be done this year. He said the decisions he has made to move slowly -- on the station review, on the replacement shuttle, and on possible missions to deep space -- are part of an effort to get NASA on solid financial and technical footing before asking for more money.

"If that's timid, then I apologize for that," he said. "But I think that's responsible."